# Newton South High School

Newton South High School is one of two public high schools in the city of Newton, Massachusetts, United States, the other being Newton North.

## History and student life

By the late 1950s, Newton's sole public high school, Newton High, grew to 3,000 students. Newton built a new school, Newton South, in the Oak Hill neighborhood in 1960. The school is organized into four student houses—Cutler, Goldrick, Goodwin, and Wheeler—each with a student commons.
Newton South was the first public high school to create a gay–straight alliance in the United States in the early 1990s.
Newton South features two award-winning student newspapers, Denebola and The Lion's Roar.
U.S. News & World Report ranked Newton South as the 446th-best high school in the country and 20th-best in the Massachusetts in its 2020 rankings.
The school is part of the Newton Public School District.

### Public attention

The school gained notoriety in 2002 for its "Senior Scavenger Hunt", a student-organized contest that featured theft, vandalism, illegal drug use, and various sexual acts committed by the graduating seniors in exchange for points.
On February 8, 2007, the Newton South STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition chapter organized a Darfur Benefit Concert with the well known band, State Radio, raising over $230,000 for Save the Children and the Genocide Intervention Network.

## Sports

Newton South competes in the DCL (Dual County League).
* Fall sports
** Football (B)
** Soccer (B+G)
** Cross Country (B+G)
** Volleyball (G)
** Golf (Co-Ed)
** Field Hockey (Co-Ed)
** Cheerleading (Co-Ed)
* Winter sports
** Basketball (B+G)
** Gymnastics (B+G)
** Nordic Skiing (B+G)
** Alpine Skiing (B+G)
** Indoor Track and Field (B+G)
** Wrestling (Co-Ed)
** Hockey (B+G)
** Swimming and Diving (B+G)
** Cheerleading (Co-Ed)
* Spring sports
** Lacrosse (B+G)
** Baseball (B)
** Softball (G)
** Volleyball (B)
** Track and Field (B+G)
** Tennis (B+G)
** Rugby (B+G)

### Awards and recognition

Newton South was named America's top athletic program by Sports Illustrated in 2010.

## Notable alumni

* Josh Altman, class of 1997, real estate agent on Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles
* Nili Brosh, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter
* Veronica Burton, class of 2018, professional basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association
* Marisa Catalina Casey, class of 1997, co-author of Born in Our Hearts: Stories of Adoption, is the founder and executive director of the arts education nonprofit Starting Artists, Inc. located in Brooklyn
* Geoffrey Gray, class of 2015, American-Israeli professional basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
* Marin Hinkle, class of 1984, actor for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and CBS's Two and a Half Men
* Darvell Huffman, class of 1986, former NFL player for the Indianapolis Colts
* Alex Karpovsky, class of 1993, actor for HBO's comedy-drama Girls and Amazon's Homecoming
* Caroline Kaufer, class of 1980, software executive and philanthropist
* John Krasinski, class of 1997, filmmaker and actor for NBC's comedy The Office, A Quiet Place, and A Quiet Place Part II
* Ben Kurland, class of 2002, an actor in The Artist, which won five Academy Awards
* Bill Lichtenstein, class of 1974, Peabody Award-winning journalist, filmmaker, radio producer
* Robert C. Lieberman, class of 1982, American political journalist and former provost of the Johns Hopkins University
* Jonathan Mann, class of 1965, World Health Organization chief against AIDS
* Chris Morocco, class of 1998, American chef and YouTube personality
* Roger Myerson, class of 1969, was one of the three recipients of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2007 "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory"
* Hari Nef, class of 2011, transgender actress, model, and writer. Debuted at New York Fashion Week Spring 2015
* B. J. Novak, class of 1997, co-executive producer, writer, and actor for NBC's comedy The Office
* Joe Rogan, class of 1985, TV host of Fear Factor, The Man Show, Joe Rogan Questions Everything, The Joe Rogan Experience podcast
* Eli Roth, class of 1990, film director, producer, writer, and actor. Co-starred with Novak in Inglourious Basterds
* Jason Solowsky, class of 1995, film composer, guitarist and pianist. Composed music for over 100 films
* Bronze Age Pervert, class of 1998, author of Bronze Age Mindset